“If He Was a Nuer Captain, I Would be Worried” Salva Kiir Downplays
Gen. Paul Malong Awan Rebellion
September 8, 2017 Nyamilepedia Leave a comment
Former army chief Gen. Paul Malong Awan Greeting President Salva Kiir,
the two men appear in Sentry report as
South Sudan’s ousted army chief Paul Malong addresses the media after
returning to the South Sudan’s capital of Juba, May 13, 2017.
REUTERS/Stringer
Sept 9, 2017(Nyamilepedia) —– On May 8th 2017, the former Chief of
Staff of SPLA-IG, Gen Paul Malong Awan was sacked through a live
broadcast that was announced on National Television. Upon hearing the
news, the bitterly disgruntled general promptly assembled his loyal
troops comprising of 18 generals and armed them with tanks, ammunition
and armored vehicles.
Gen. Malong headed to the bush that night with what government
officials termed as over 10 millions US Dollar with over 600 soldiers
from the army general headquarters alone to stage what would have been
a ground-breaking rebellion in attempt to topple President Salva Kiir
from his do-or-die presidency which he struggled to maintain since the
independence of the new country in 2011.
President Kiir quickly maneuvered and downplayed the seriousness of
“King Paul” rebellion – a man who is known among his Dinka supporters
as the most notorious Dinka general alive – but General Salva Kiir was
not worried saying unless “he was a Nuer Captain”.
President Kiir ordered his loyal troops to allow Gen. Malong a free
passage to evacuate the capital without disturbing a relatively small
peace that UN and JMEC had built and struggled to sustain in Juba with
hopes to make South Sudan looks more peaceful in the eyes of the
International Community and outside world.
No single bullet was fired that night despite Malong troops’
provocative abandonment of their positions while attempting to rush
and gather in Malong’s home town of Aweil and its surrounding.
Within 24 hours, however, the routes of the fleeing chief of general
staff were traced and besieged by Kiir’s loyalists leaving “the King”
with no better option than surrendering to a man he threatened to
topple.
Malong’s rebellion was quilt without firing of a single bullet within
4 days and the Ex-chief was forcefully returned to Juba to face
detention and serious charges that may include treason. Since then
Malong has been begging for a chance to leave Juba but all his
attempts were turned down by the “presidency” until today.
Malong has trained over 50 000 troops from his home state within the
last 4 years to fight in defence of Kiir’s leadership and Jieng
ideologies, a challenge that has earned him the title “King Paul”, but
later on Gen. Malong lost hopes of crushing “Riek Machar’s rebellion”
and instead turned his powers to intimidate Salva Kiir – barring him
and his supporters from visiting the army headquarters in Juba and as
well as from signing peace and ceasefire agreements.
Today, Malong’s inner circle, mostly senior generals and top security
officials, are serving detention in various parts of the country and
others are scattered to unknown barracks in different states. Majority
of Malong’s top aids are disarmed and left vulnerable to Kiir’s camp.
President Kiir’s ethnic profiling jokes have dominated the conflict
since he reigned to power in 2005.
Kiir has made similar ethnic profiling comments in the past against
Equatorian generals and Dinka bor politicians.
In 2014, President Kiir cautioned a senior Equatorian General, Lt.
Gen. Martin Kenyi, who defected from his government and joined the
SPLA-IO that he should return to Juba saying that “the bush is not for
Equatorians but for the Nuer and Dinka”.
Gen. Kenyi downplayed Kiir’s remarks and only returned to Juba in 2016
as part of the IO peace delegation to implement the August 2015 Peace
Agreement that was later disrupted by another fighting in July 2016.
President Kiir’s jokes, however, are not surprising. The Nuer proved
their fighting skills when 1370 bodyguards of Dr. Riek Machar and 1st
Lt. Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual, the Chief of General Staff of SPLA-IO,
fought over 30,000 of Kiir and Malong loyal SPLA troops in the
capital, Juba, and managed to evacuate all their generals and
politicians from Juba unhurt and continued to fight their way for 37
days with light weapons and less ammunition until they reach DR Congo.
Kiir has demonstrated signifcant trust in Nuer generals throughout his
leadership. Major battles and disarmament campaigns including the
2005-6 Abyei battles, 2012 Heglig war against Sudan, 2006-7
disarmament campaigns in Jonglei state, and internal fighting against
COBRA of David Yau Yau, SSDM and SSLA were all commanded by Nuer
generals and fighters.
Kiir has also used to the maximum the few Nuer generals who remained
in his camp in 2013 and those who rejoined him within the last 4
years. While fighting in Unity state was dominated by the Bull Nuers,
the fighting in Upper Nile and now in Lou-Nuer areas are all commanded
by the Nuer.
According to Salva Kiir, although Gen. Malong played seemingly tough
roles during the fighting against the SPLA-IO, Malong cannot sustain a
significant rebellion claiming that his Ex-Chief of army should just
look after his High Blood Pressure and forget about politics in South
Sudan.
Whether Malong will return to politics, if released, is hard to
predict but the today’s powerless general had once dominated politics
in Northern Bhar el Ghazal and Salva Kiir supporters believe that he
may try to form a rebellion and wage war if he is allowed to reach
Aweil.
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